British police are searching for a Manchester United soccer fan who wore a jersey with “Hamas 7” printed on the back, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.
The unidentified man was photographed by a Jewish passerby near the Oxford Circus tube station in central London on Friday.
“Police received a call from a member of the public reporting that a man was walking in Oxford Street, W1 wearing a football shirt with an offensive message on it," said a Metropolitan Police spokesperson. “Enquiries are underway to try and identify the man.”
The "Hamas 7" tag is a reference to the Palestinian terror group's Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the abduction to Gaza of more than 250 people, 125 of whom remain in captivity.
Expressing support for a proscribed organization is a criminal offense in Britain under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act, according to the report.
The United Kingdom banned Hamas's military wing in 2001 and extended the designation to its political wing in 2021.
Last month, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak noted that the October 7 attacks were “the most appalling attack in Israel’s history, the worst loss of Jewish life since the Second World War. Six months later, Israeli wounds are still unhealed. Families still mourn and hostages are still held by Hamas.
“And after six months of war in Gaza, the toll on civilians continues to grow—hunger, desperation, loss of life on an awful scale. We continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas terrorists and defend their security.”
In March, more than 130 British parliamentarians signed a letter urging London to cut off weapons sales to Israel, a move Sunak has thus far rejected.
According to a poll in April, only a quarter of British Muslims believe that Hamas committed murder and rape during its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. Thirty-nine percent of British Muslims said Hamas did not commit atrocities on Oct. 7, while 37% said they didn’t know.
Younger, well-educated Muslims were most likely to say Hamas did not commit atrocities (47% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 40% among the university-educated).
Nearly half of British Muslims polled (46%) sympathised with Hamas.
